f 

•  # 


+  *   I 


A 


GENERAL  JOHN  C.  BLACK 


MAJOR  GENERAL  GRENVILLE  M.  DODGE 


A&ftrefiBrs 


(Erlrb  ration  of  the 
tiojitu-tljiro  Annim?  rsarn,  of  tlir  tBirtb, 


of 


ittajcr  (grnrral  (Sratmll*  $&.  Sodgr 


He  was  a  brave,  gallant  and  capable  gen- 
eral of  the  Union  and.  if  possible,  a  more 
mighty  captain   of  Industry: 

But,   above  all, 

Is  a  delightful  neighbor  and  our  warm 
and  loyal  friend. 


g>aturimii  Xatrn  (Club 
April  12.  1914 

(Bene-ral  3obn  (C.  Hark 

©ralur  of  tlje  ©rraBion 


THE    MONARCH    PRINTING    CO. 

COUNCIL   BLUFFS.  IOWA: 

1914 


(Sntrral  Jtalin  <E.  Hark 

Gentlemen  of  the  Saturday  Noon  Club  of  Council  Blitffsr: 

I  am  here  to  join  his  neighbors  in  honoring  a  mar 
whom  I  love,  and  I  rise  among  yon  with  something  of 
apprehension,  no1  of  your  judgment,  for  thai  I  know  will 
be  kindly;  not  because  of  the  subject  of  my  remarks, 
who  is  friend  first  and  critic  afterward,  but  from  a  sense 
now  present  with  me  of  the  majesty  of  the  things  that 
have  passed  in  review  before  me  since  I  received  your 
kindly  imitation  to  be  present  and  to  speak  at  this 
banquet. 

Sometimes  in  the  course  of  the  busiest  affairs  of 
everyday  life  something  will  take  us  from  the  midst  of 
the  hurly  burly  and  cause  us  to  review  our  way  through 
the  long  distances  of  the  past.     Its  events  come  to  us  in 

^procession,  not    always    orderly    as    the3r    occurred,    but 
'xj  rat  her  in  the  proportion  of  their  personal  importance  to 

.v  us  at  the  time  wre  were  actors  in  them.     The  impressions 

>iof  the  time  or  occasion  die  down;  the  vast  level  view 
(••niies  as  when  one  looks  at  an  ocean  of  tumbling  waves. 
But  when  we  think  closely  we  recall  the  depths  and  the 
heights  through  and  upon  which  we  moved.     So  tonight 

.'I  am  thinking  of  the  many  incidents  of  a  career  which 
has  been  contemporaneous  with  that  of  your  guest  of 
honor,  and  full  to  me  of  the  splendid  life  of  the  last  fifty 
years  in  which  he  has  borne  his  great  part. 

All  of  my  life  nearly  has  been  passed  in  this  West. 
T  remember  when  its  known  borders  stretched  along  the 
.Missouri  river;  I  remember  when  "Western  Iowa  was  a 
far  country,  isolated  by  distance  and  difficulty  of  com- 
munication from  the  mass  and  center  of  the  Union.  I 
remember  what  the  West  was,  not  only  to  me  but  to 
every    man    and    boy    of   that    now    vanishing    period,    a 


cr- 

- 


period  when  there  was  no  telegraph,  when  the  mails  came 
to  us  once  a  week,  when  a  newspaper  was  a  rarity,  a 
great  book,  a  treasure,  and  the  man  of  a  library  a  dis- 
tinguished personage.  The  movements  of  population 
were  beginning;  they  were  insignificant;  the  frontier 
was  pushed  but  slowly  toward  the  "West.  A  few  thou- 
sands of  peoples  occupied  Iowa,  and  a  few  hundreds  of 
thousands  were  all  that  dwelt  in  the  great   Northwest. 

Still  in  the  midst  of  this  people,  themselves  frontiers- 
men, restless,  active,  indomitable,  there  were  those  who 
longed  for  a  greater  freedom  and  for  wider  fields  of 
enterprise  and  conquest.  Now  and  then  a  colony  went 
out  from  this  slenderly  populated  region,  passing  on 
some  unknown  trail  toward  the  unknown  land.  It  went 
guarded;  its  men  were  armed  as  for  battle;  its  women 
were  prepared  for  all  the  hardships  of  discovery.  "When 
these  colonies  crossed  the  Missouri  river  and  moved  away 
the  memories  of  them  were  all  that  remained.  "We  that 
lingered  knew  that  upon  them  might  fall  destruction; 
that  they  were  gone  from  our  lives ;  we  knew  of  the 
perils,  real  and  imaginary,  of  the  journeys  they  were 
undertaking;  we  knew  of  the  long  stretches  of  torrid 
land  and  the  long  perils  of  drouth;  we  knew  of  the  dry- 
ing springs  and  the  arid  and  sunburned  plains  that  fur- 
nished them  passage ;  we  knew,  too,  of  the  disaster  and 
starvation  which  had  befallen  their  forerunners:  of  the 
raging  torrents  that  sometimes  burst  their  bounds  and 
overwhelmed  them;  of  the  mountains  that  raised  their 
awful  barriers  before  them,  and  of  the  covert  passes 
where  the  savage  stood  on  guard,  and  ambuscaded  death 
awaited  the  coming  pioneer.  AVe  knew  that  the  ways 
across  the  Continent  were  dotted  with  the  graves  of  the 
young,  the  fair  and  the  brave;  we  knew  that  at  the  last, 
when  successful  and  when  they  had  reached  the  other 
side  of  the  Continent,  they  were  gone,  and  forever. 


The  Wesl  was  a  region  not  alone  of  romance  l>ut  of 
mystery,  and  ye1  of  allurements  and  of  possibly  greal 
reward  for  success.  Those  wlio  stood  here  upon  the 
western  boundary  and  gazed  into  the  distance,  filled  with 
the  restless  spirit  of  the  frontier,  Looked  and  wondered 
what  they  could  do  to  make  a  pathway  for  the  swarming 
myriads  that  were  to  come  and  to  plunge  into  these 
perils. 

There  is  a  picture  in  the  Nation's  Capitol   which,  in 

my  judgment,  is  a  work  of  great  genius.  qo1  from  its 
color  nor  its  perspective,  but  because  the  artist  who 
painted  it  caught  and  put  into  it  the  spirit  of  the  time  of 
which  I  am  speaking.  It  is  the  picture  of  an  emigrant 
train,  men,  women,  children,  as  1  have  sought  to  describe 
them  to  you,  toiling  up  through  a  narrow  mountain  pass, 
until  at  last  as  they  reach  the  summit  the  great  West 
breaks  upon  their  wondering  vision.  They  see  its  van- 
ishing forms,  and  they  see,  too,  the  coming  places,  the 
future  happy  homes,  the  future  great  cities,  the  future 
growth  of  freedom.  Holding  his  rifle,  the  leader  of  the 
parly  stands  with  his  foot  upon  the  highest  rock  in  the 
rough  trail  and  shades  his  eyes  with  brawny  hand  while 
he  looks  toward  the  splendor  of  the  setting  sun. 

Thousands  of  such  scenes,  varied  in  detail,  were 
enacted  by  the  humble  unknown  travelers  of  that  time; 
and  they  stood  not  always  upon  mountain  peaks,  but 
upon  those  mental  heights  which  genius  builds  for  her 
favored  sons. 

And  amongst  those  who  stood  thus  came  a  young 
man  from  the  regions  by  the  seas,  and  his  quickened 
vision  gazed  into  these  long  stretches  of  desolation  and 
peril.  His  spirit  answered  to  the  call  of  the  region  and 
its  needs,  and  he  settled  himself  to  Bubdue  and  conquer 
and  make  safe  a  pathway  for  those  that  were  to  tread 
in  his  trail.     lie  had   paused    long  enough   in    Illinois   to 

—9  — 


claim  a  wife  from  among  our  daughters,  and  thus  given 
us  a  proprietary  and  undying  interest  in  him  and  his 
fortunes;  and  in  the  earliest  stages  of  his  life,  before  he 
had  reached  Iowa  and  while  he  still  lingered  in  Illinois, 
he  had  won  the  confidence  of  those  about  him  by  his 
energy,  bis  industry  and  bis  fidelity. 

The  career  of  Grenville  M.  Dodge  here  at  his  home 
I  will  not  depict  to  yon  ;  you  all  know  it ;  it  has  been 
told  over  and  over;  it  was  always  success,  always  en- 
gagements in  high  enterprises,  always  with  a  view  to 
the  ultimates  of  manhood,  always  looking  forward  for 
the  best  for  his  people  and  his  country. 

And  so  he  might  have  lived  and  passed  away  with 
the  other  coming  myriads ;  but  while  so  struggling  and 
while  so  succeeding  there  came  the  blast  of  the  bugle, 
the  call  of  the  country;  and,  responding  to  that  call,  he 
gave  up  every  occupation  of  civil  life  and  devoted  his 
existence  from  that  time  until  the  close  of  the  great 
struggle  solely  to  the  cause  of  his  country. 

In  the  earlier  days  of  that  contest  none  were  more 
active  than  he  in  preparing  therefor  or  in  participating 
therein.  He  held  the  borders  of  Iowa,  when  threatened, 
safely  against  the  enemy;  and  when  invasion  threatened, 
he  rushed  to  the  front,  drove  back  an  active  and  confi- 
dent foe,  and  made  the  borders  of  Iowa  borders  of  peace 
for  all  time;  and  when  he  repelled  an  invading  foeman 
from  the  Hawkeye  state  he  earned  a  place  in  her  Hall 
of  Fame  which  will  be  his  until  the  end  of  time. 

I  am  not  going  over  all  of  this  earlier  period  in  de- 
tail. But  so  it  was  that  in  the  first  of  1862  he,  Colonel 
Dodge,  led  the  Fourth  Iowa  to  the  battlefield  at  Pea 
Ridge,  on  which  I  was  in  service  as  the  commander  of 
tbe  Thirty-seventh  Illinois.  He  was  on  the  one  wing  aivl 
I  was  in  the  center  playing  the  humble  part  of  the  com- 
mander of  a  regiment.     On  that  field  be  felt  the  sting  of 

— 10— 


the  bullet;  and  so  did  I.  In  that  contest,  which  the 
strategists  of  the  world  have  recognized  as  of  prime  im- 
portance, for  reasons  which  the  soldier  will  appreciate 
and  the  citizen  can  understand,  in  that  contest,  which 
was  the  fiercest  and  most  extensive  which  had  been 
waged  anywhere  on  our  far-spread  battle  line  except  at 
Bull  Run,  his  regiment  was  the  heaviest  loser,  and  mine 
was  next;  and  when  the  smoke  had  cleared  and  deserved 
honor  had  fallen  upon  him  my  mind  and  thought  turned 
to  the  splendid  Colonel  of  the  Fourth  Iowa ;  and  from 
that  day  to  this,  thank  God,  we  have  been  friends.  And 
this  is  the  personal  element  which  makes  this  occasion 
peculiarly  dear  to  me. 

In  the  state  of  Illinois,  where  Dodge  had  passed  the 
earlier  part  of  his  young  manhood,  there  had  been  nur- 
tured another  citizen  with  whose  name  honor  will  be 
busy  through  a  thousand  years.  The  state  had  taken 
to  her  bosom  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  the  greatest  conquerer 
thai  the  earth  has  seen  in  a  hundred  years,  and  lie  was  a 
conquerer  not  alone  because  he  had  the  genius  of  war. 
but  because  he  had  an  intimate  knowledge  of  men.  He 
had  been  a  graduate  of  "West  Point.  In  that  school  every 
student  passes  daily  under  the  microscopic  observance 
of  his  classmates,  who  there  study,  unconsciously,  each 
other's  characteristics  and  learn  them  and  store  the 
knowledge  up  for  future  use.  They  know  each  other  as 
intimately  as  children  of  the  same  family.  They  are  as 
a  rule  men  of  slenderest  fortune,  who  enter  the  army 
without  factitious  advantage,  depending  only  upon  their 
individual  merits  for  success.  But  army  service  itself 
tends  to  develop  only  the  tactical  soldier.  This  is  not 
sufficient  equipment  for  a  great  leader,  and  in  the  chap- 
ter of  events  it  came  about  that  Granl  lefl  that  service 
through  weaknesses  of  habit  that  then  inhered  in  it.  to 
struggle,  without  help  from  the  Government,  for  a  bare 


livelihood;  and  in  the  sad  period  of  his  retirement  he  was 
thrown  into  intimate  relations  with  the  plain  people  of 
the  land.  He  came  to  earn  his  bread  by  the  sweat  of 
his  brow,  to  learn  what  the  common  man  does  under  cir- 
cumstances of  difficulty  and  trial,  what  are  his  aspira- 
tions, what  his  trials,  and  along  what  lines  lie  his  suc- 
cesses. 

I  take  it  that  you  at  this  board  are  all  men  of  suc- 
cess; I  take  it  that  in  your  various  advantages  you  have 
turned  inquiring  eyes  upon  your  associates,  eyes  of  re- 
spect upon  those  who  have  preceded  you.  eyes  of  appre- 
ciation upon  those  among  you  who  rise  to  honor.  You 
learn  the  intimacies  of  their  character;  and  this  great 
genius  of  war  of  whom  I  am  speaking  beyond  doubt 
found  the  greatest  educational  period  of  his  life  in  the 
time  of  his  trouble  and  depression.  He  came  to  look 
under  the  surface,  and  at  the  man  and  for  the  man  who 
could  serve  and  who  could  succeed ;  and  when  he  stepped 
back  into  the  ranks  of  war  he  was  panoplied  not  alone 
with  the  knowledge  of  arms,  but  doubly  strong  in  the 
knowledge  of  men. 

With  the  history  of  his  military  career  it  is  not  my 
province  to  deal.  He  rose  from  the  unknown  in  a  fashion 
as  wonderful  as  that  which  made  the  name  of  Bonaparte 
illustrious  in  the  campaigns  in  Italy.  The  rush  of  his 
battalions  was  resistless,  and  the  Valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi is  dotted  with  the  great  places  where  he  fought  and 
succeeded;  and  at  last  the  Nation  called  him  to  the  su- 
preme command  of  all  its  armies.  And  when  at  last  that 
summons  came  and  he  passed  from  Chattanooga,  Look- 
out Mountain,  Missionary  Ridge,  to  the  supreme  com- 
mand, he  scanned  the  field  for  those  who  had  done  well 
and  would  be  of  help  in  the  titantic  struggles  that  lay 
before  him  and  who  would  be  able  to  hold  all  that  he 
had   gained  and  to  assist  in  those  things  he  had   yet  to 


— l: 


do.  Going  over,  then,  the  list  of  the  successful  fighters 
of  his  command,  in  the  selection  of  men  upon  whom  he 
could  utterly  depend,  his  wisdom,  not  his  partiality, 
selected  as  one  of  the  chiefest  of  these,  Grenville  M. 
Dodge,  making  him  his  confident,  his  trusted  and  beloved 
subaltern. 

To  you  who  are  General  Dodge's  friends  and  neigh- 
bors, let  me  relate  this  incident  of  that  time  which  his 
modesty  has  concealed.  Atlanta's  battle  had  been 
fought.  The  Mississippi  Valley  to  the  north  was  under 
the  control  of  our  arms.  The  campaigns  of  three  years 
were  secure,  and  the  death  stroke  was  to  be  delivered  to 
the  rebellion.  "Who  would  bring  together  the  widely  sep- 
arated armies  of  the  Republic?  Sherman  was  selected. 
How  greatly  he  discharged  his  duties  the  world  knows, 
but  it  is  not  generally  known  that  second  to  Sherman, 
the  man  upon  whom  the  conquerer  relied  and  who  was 
closest  to  Grant's  heart,  and  who  was  only  second  in 
his  schemes  that  looked  to  the  great  march  to  the  sea, 
was  Grenville  M.  Dodge.  And  with  Sherman  as  with 
Grant,  he  discharged  every  duty  that  lay  before  him; 
and  when  on  the  22d  of  July  the  Gray  waves  of  valor 
broke  their  bounds  and  came  rolling  on  our  scattered 
lines  and  death  claimed  great  McPherson,  there  was  no 
figure  taller  in  that  flghitng,  determined  and  victorious 
Army  in  Blue  than  that  of  Grenville  M.  Dodge.  His 
work  was  done  then;  the  theater  of  mighty  war  was 
transferred  to  regions  farther  south  and  beyond  the  Alle- 
ghanies.  There  was  demanded  in  the  great  Department 
of  the  Missouri  a  man  of  utter  reliability  and  of  broad 
knowledge  of  the  people  and  the  region  to  be  controlled, 
and  that  Department  was  given  to  him,  and  remained 
under  his  control  until  the  end  of  hostilities. 

lb'  had  won  enough  of  fame  for  an  ordinary  career; 
he  had  accomplished  successes  which  would   have  justi- 

—13— 


fied  a  quiet  retirement  from  the  great  activities  of  life. 
But  he  was  still  young ;  he  was  resolute,  he  was  resource- 
ful; and  when  peace  came  he  returned  to  new  responsi- 
bilities and  new  duties.  He  took  up  the  burdens  of  civil 
life  where  he  had  laid  them  down  five  years  before.  "What 
a  period  that  five  years  had  been,  of  struggle,  of  victory, 
of  the  great  things  that  lie  in  the  way  of  duties  well  and 
nobly  done ! 

So,  with  undiminished  power,  with  resources  all  at 
command,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  opening  of  that 
pathway  to  the  West  of  which  I  spoke  in  the  earlier  part 
of  my  remarks,  and  became  the  eminent  figure  in  smooth- 
ing out  the  highway  upon  which  the  Nation  should  move, 
over  its  own  dominion,  from  ocean  to  ocean. 

But  he  did  not  stand  as  the  surveyor  and  thinker ; 
he  was  the  active,  resistless,  powerful  man  of  affairs. 
Under  his  leadership  and  direction  the  savage  was  driven 
from  the  path  of  progress,  the  iron  rails  were  stretched 
from  the  Missouri  to  the  Pacific  Coast;  and  far  distant 
California,  isolated  by  plains  and  mountains,  proud  of 
the  part  that  she  had  borne  in  the  salvation  of  the  Ee- 
public,  proud  of  her  little  contribution  of  citizen-sol- 
diery, was  furnished  a  thoroughfare  by  this  man's  ca- 
pacity back  to  the  old  land  and  the  old  home;  bonds 
were  stretched  between  the  great  oceans  that  never, 
never  will  be  dissolved. 

I  have  recently  come  from  the  heart  of  that  region, 
and  all  around  I  found  men  and  things  that  showed  the 
affection  of  the  multitudes  who  were  aided  by  him  in 
their  great  expansion  and  who  have  gratefully  preserved 
his  name  in  mountains  and  rivers  and  in  the  cities  that 
dot  the  plains,  in  the  names  of  enterprises  that  have  been 
accomplished,  in  the  names  of  successes  that  have  been 
assured,  in  the  names  of  enterprises  that  are  part  and 
parcel    of    the    vivid,    living    "Western    life    today;    and 


wherever  the  pioneer  lingers  on  that  broad  trail,  now 
grown  to  the  width  of  an  empire,  the  name  of  Grenville 
M.  Dodge  is  preserved  in  the  speech  and  on  the  maps  of 
the  dwellers. 

While  it  is  splendidly  worth  while  to  have  been 
spent  in  such  a  cause,  it  is  sweeter  to  live  and  in  the  end 
look  upon  projects  all  of  which  have  benefited  humanity, 
all  of  which  have  strengthened  the  Nation,  all  of  which 
have  added  to  the  glories  of  this  Republic.  I  am  very 
proud  to  have  known  and  watched  the  great  and  stead- 
fast and  luminous  growth  of  this  character.  There  has 
been  nothing  in  his  career  meteoric,  nothing  of  the 
iridescent  splendor  that  for  a  day  may  gild  enterprise; 
but  he  has  trodden  the  plain  path  of  duty,  wherever  it 
might  lead ;  and  the  tallest  monument  that  Avill  be  built 
to  him  will  be  not  of  bronze  or  of  stone,  but  in  the  his- 
toric and  affectionate  remembrances  of  the  great  peoples 
whom  he  has  served. 

Fellow  Countrymen,  we  are  now,  as  I  take  it,  in  the 
youth  and  heyday  of  American  life.  Thousands  of  years 
from  this  time,  God  willing — and  we  do  not  ask  human 
consent — God  willing,  the  Republic  will  be  here  and  her 
commerce  will  move  along  that  pathway  of  this  man's 
building,  and  he  finally  will  stand  revealed  as  among  the 
greatest  of  American  men,  a  doer  of  great  deeds  well 
done  and  benefitting  the  world.  And  what  a  character 
the  American  character  will  be  when  fully  disclosed ! 
We  have  had  Washington,  we  have  had  Lincoln,  we 
have  had  Grant,  we  have  had  Jackson,  we  have  had  many 
mighty  men.  civic  and  otherwise;  but  as  yet  they  are 
single  st;irs  in  a  great  constellation.  By  and  by  as  the 
constellation  recedes  these  scattered  luminaries  will 
gather  in  a  common  purpose  and  a  common  form,  and 
that  will  be  the  ideal  American,  of  whom  this  man,  your 
guest  tonight,  is  a  type,  the  doer  of  deeds,  the  thinker 

—15— 


of  human  thoughts.  I  congratulate  you  that  one  of  the 
men  of  this  mighty  type  has  made  his  abode  with  you. 
He  adds,  in  his  declining  days,  the  subdued  luster  of  a 
great  life  to  this  place  where  so  many  American  path- 
ways join,  and  where  his  memory  will  so  long  endure, 
in  the  center  of  a  region  where  have  been  developed  the 
explorers  and  the  early  builders  of  our  time  and  race ; 
great  among  all  of  them  will  be  the  character,  the  career, 
and  the  honor  of  Grenville  M.  Dodge. 


—  16— 


Mr.  Toastmaster  and  Gentlemen: 

It  was  with  great  satisfaction  thai  I  put  my  work 
to  one  side  and  conic  from  my  home  to  join  with  my 
friends  at  Council  Bluffs  in  paying  tribute  to  General 
Dodge  and  likewise  General  Black.  Of  course,  I  had 
known  of  General  Black  for  a  great  many  years:  I  had 
seen  him  here  at  one,  perhaps  two  meetings  of  the  Army 
of  the  Tennessee. 

Some  six  months  ago  I  was  riding  in  the  observation 
car  on  the  Burlington  road  and  I  kept  looking  at  a  gen- 
tleman and  saying  to  myself,  "I  have  seen  him,"  and 
he  impressed  me  a  good  deal  as  General  Joe  Shelby  was 
impressed  at  Prairie  Grove.  Something  told  me  to  keep 
my  distance  and  not  approach  nearer  than  the  middle  of 
the  isle  of  the  car.  When  he  left  the  car,  I  knew  that 
he  was  a  person  of  distinction;  but  I  did  not  know  him 
until  the  next  day  when  I  read  from  the  Council  Bluffs 
papers  that  General  Black  was  visiting  General  Dodge. 
Then  I  knew  whom   I  had  seen  on  the  train. 

Many  years  since,  General  Dodge  was  pointed  out 
to  me.  I  have  learned  to  honor  and  respect  him.  and 
love  him.  I  have  one  little  story  that  I  have  told  so 
often  that  it  may  be  stale  to  some  of  you,  but  I  will  tell 
it  again.  This  was  when  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  met 
here  a  number  of  years  ago.  General  Dodge  wrote  me 
a  letter  to  be  present,  stating  that  certain  parties  would 
be  here,  and  "I  want  you  to  be  here  to  represent  Gen- 
eral James  B.  Mcpherson."  1  replied  to  General  Dodge 
that  I  eould  not  claim  any  near  relationship  to  General 
ftfcPherson.  lie  wrote  me  back  that  I  would  be  heard, 
and  I  must  attend  the  banquet,  so  1  concluded  perhaps 
that  as  good  a  subject  as  I  could  talk  upon  would  be 
General  McPherson. 

—17— 


It  has  always  been  my  practice  to  go  to  General 
Dodge  for  history  pertaining  to  the  Western  Armies.  I 
remember  on  one  occasion  I  told  him  of  the  various 
histories  I  had  read,  and  I  was  then  reading  Fiske's 
history.  General  Dodge  told  me  to  put  it  away  and  stop 
instanter;  he  told  me  it  was  the  most  unreliable — that 
Fiske  was  the  biggest  liar  this  side  of  Munchausen. 
However,  I  concluded  to  pursue  it,  and  in  my  study  of 
General  James  B.  McPherson  I  found  what  I  thought 
was  the  greatest  tribute  to  General  Dodge.  It  related 
to  the  terrible  battle  of  July  22d.  Matters  had  been  go- 
ing quite  badly  over  on  the  left  of  the  army.  Sherman 
and  McPherson  had  been  having  trouble  getting  reports, 
and  everything  was  going  to  the  bad  and  finally  Mc- 
Pherson said  that  he  could  not  remain  there,  that  he 
must  go  to  the  left  and  see  if  he  could  not  do  something 
to  help.  When  he  got  through  there  and  the  smoke  had 
cleared  away  and  he  saw  what  had  happened,  he  waived 
his  hat  to  his  staff  and  yelled,  "Hurrah  for  Dodge,  he's 
got  'em."  And  so  far  as  anyone  was  ever  able  to  ascer- 
tain those  were  the  last  words  of  General  McPherson. 

That  banquet  was  on  the  sixth  floor  of  this  hotel. 
Father  Sherman,  General  Fred  Grant,  General  Black  and 
General  Dodge  urged  me  to  say  a  few  words,  and  I  told 
this  story.  Immediately  afterwards,  General  Dodge  told 
me  that  he  wanted  to  see  me  out  in  the  corridor.  I  went 
out  with  him  and  he  says,  "Where  did  you  get  that."  I 
said,  "I  cannot  tell  you."  He  says,  "You  will;"  I  says, 
"I  will  not."  The  next  day  at  another  banquet  there 
were  two  or  three  generals  present,  including  General 
Dodge,  and  I  asked  General  Dodge  what  he  thought  of 
Fiske  as  a  historian.  He  said  he  was  the  biggest  liar 
that  ever  used  a  pen.  General  Dodge  said  that  it  is  not 
a  lie,  that  McPherson  said,  "Hurrah  for  Dodge,  he's  got 

—18— 


'em,"  Imt  he  said  that  Fiske  is  unreliable.  From  that 
time  mi  General  Dodge  read  Fiske  with  more  considera- 
tion. 

I  always  feel  at  home  at  Council  Bluffs,  where  my 
home  once  was,  and  I  sincerely  thank  the  gentlemen  of 
the  Saturday  Noon  Club  for  inviting  me  to  be  present  at 
this  occasion  in  honor  of  General  Dodge  and  General 
Black. 


—  !9— 


8*tt.  A.  <8.  A.  luxtott,  §.  i. 

.1//-,  Toast  master  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Saturday  Noon  Club: 

It  seems  to  me  almost  impossible  to  say  anything 
that  would  be  worth  while  after  what  has  been  said  and 
said  so  beautifully  that  if  it  were  within  the  character 
of  rhetorical  construction  to  cut  the  words  uttered,  they 
would  bleed.  The  expression  of  regard  and  appreciation 
for  our  honored  guest  and  citizen,  this  man  of  achieve- 
ment, who  surmounting  obstacles  so  great  as  to  extract 
the  defying  ingredient  from  the  seemingly  impossible 
and  turn  the  channel  of  difficulty  into  accomplishment 
and  victory,  have  come  forth  from  the  lips  of  the  orator 
and  speaker  of  the  evening,  like  odors  from  the  new-born 
bud,  fresh  from  the  womb  and  life  of  spring. 

While  sitting  here,  I  have  been  mediating,  thinking 
and  listening  to  the  articulate  music  in  the  voice  of  this 
soldier,  this  scholar  and  this  statesman  of  American 
product,  General  John  C.  Black,  who  has  beautifully  por- 
trayed with  words  of  eloquence  and  truth  this  man  of 
men,  General  Dodge.  I  have  been  thinking  of  that  power 
and  potent  energy  which  makes  possible  the  epochs  of 
human  history  in  the  expression  of  life's  noble  career. 
To  say  that  George  AVashington,  and  the  Continental 
Army,  made  possible  the  birth  of  this  Country  without 
the  direction  and  protection  of  a  Divine  Providence,  is 
to  state  an  untruth.  To  say  that  the  wars  of  the  '60s 
with  their  conquests  and  conflicts,  grew  and  blossomed 
into  the  laurels  of  victory  on  the  side  of  right  and  hu- 
manity, without  the  intervention  of  a  Divine  Hand,  is  to 
discredit  the  presence  and  favors  of  the  Great  God,  "Who 
led  the  armies  of  this  Country,  and  Who's  manifest  pur- 
pose was  so  impregnate  in  American  endeavors  with  the 
qualities  of  freedom,  and  Who  crowned  our  efforts  with 

—20— 


the   handiwork   of  thai    Colonial    Dame,    "Betsy    R< 
who's  silken  emblem  still  waves  and  will   forever  float, 
iu  it's  heaven  tinted  array,  over  "the  Land  of  the  Kree, 
and  the  Home  of  the  Brave."  God  1ms  appointed  Bis  men 
in  the  day  of  great  moment,  in  the  day  when  the  man  of 

purpose  was  needed  to  Lubricate  the  wheels  of  evolution 
with  the  mental  oils  of  his  psychic  genius,  whether  in 
the  destruction  of  the  enemy's  stronghold,  or  in  the  lay- 
in":  of  steel  rails,  over  which  to  transmit  the  commerce 
of  progressive  civilization  from  the  middle-west  to 
where  the  spray  of  the  great  and  beautiful  Pacific  cools 
the  evening  of  his  Laborious  and  successful  exertion, 
with  the  refreshing  and  well-earned  rest  of  the  soldier, 
the  commander,  and  ingenious  surveyor.  Such  is  the 
history  in  brief  of  our  honored  guest,  the  epitome  of 
American  genius,  the  exemplar  of  perseverance.  One 
of  God's  men  in  war  and  railway  construction,  one  whom 
we  all  Love,  and  one,  whom  the  future  generations  will 
respect  and  regard,  General  Grenville  M.  Dodge.  Gen- 
eral Black  has  related  in  a  most  pleasing  and  eloquent 
manner  the  story  of  his  experience  and  association  with 
this  great  American  character,  and  the  history  of  tomor- 
row will  forever  hear  the  name  of  his  friend  and  com- 
rad  to  the  ambitious  youth  of  the  future  day,  with  an 
imaginary  sense  of  the  fiery  zeal  of  a  Dodge,  who  put  his 
muscle  into  battle  and  his  brain  into  steel.  And  when 
the  day  of  eternal  rest  shall  come  and  humankind  shall 
stack  their  rusty  muskets  upon  the  battle-field  of  ever- 
lasting peace,  General  Dodge,  with  a  Washington  and  a 
Lincoln,  and  with  men  whom  God  has  used  in  the  efforts 
of  life's  great  conquest,  we  feel,  will  receive  a  victor's 
reward.  May  God  bless  you,  my  Dear  Sir,  our  friend 
and  brother,  with  many  more  such  happy  birthdays  and 
spare  your  life  to   us  for  many  more  years  to  come. 


—21— 


Mr.   President,  Gentlemen  of  the  Saturday  Noon   Club,  and 
Guests: 

I  regret  that  I  am  unable  to  say  much  to  you  to- 
night. I  am  very  grateful  for  your  kind  greetings,  and 
you  all  know  how  fully  I  appreciate  your  great  kind- 
ness and  personal  friendship  to  me  in  yearly  making  my 
birthday  one  of  great  pleasure  and  honor  to  me. 

I  am  also  very  thankful  for  the  heavenly  blessing 
that  has  allowed  me  to  be  present  with  you  tonight  after 
a  year  of  anxiety  and  much  suffering.  But  there  has 
come  with  it  many  silver  linings  to  the  cloud,  for  from 
all  parts  of  the  country  have  come  greetings  of  sym- 
pathy and  support  that  have  all  given  me  much  pleasure 
and  much  courage,  none  more  than  that  which  came 
from  the  Saturday  Noon  Club. 

I  was  astonished  to  receive  so  many  greetings  from 
old  comrades  and  friends  that  I  hadn't  heard  from  for 
forty  years  or  more ;  men  who  were  with  me  in  those 
strenuous  times,  and  it  was  a  great  satisfaction  to  know 
that  they  remembered  me. 

It  is  easy  to  keep  up  a  physical  courage,  but  a  moral 
courage  is  hard  to  build  up  and  sustain.  And  I  have 
often  thought  of  an  incident  that  came  to  my  notice  at 
the  Battle  of  Pea  Ridge,  when  the  day  was  the  darkest, 
and  the  fighting  furious. 

An  enlisted  man  of  the  Fourth  Iowa  Infantry,  as  he 
was  being  carried  to  the  rear,  desperately  wounded, 
passed  me  and  said  to  me:  "Don't  give  up  Colonel, 
stick  to  them;  fight  them  and  you  will  win  yet."  The 
past  year  it  has  been  hard  to  "fight"  or  to  "stick  to 
them,"  but  I  have  managed  not  to  give  up, 

—22— 


One  of  the  greatest  pleasures  of  the  evening  is  that 
my  comrade,  General  John  C.  Black,  has  come  many 
miles  to  be  with  me.  Since  1862  we  have  been  close 
friends ;  that  friendship  has  grown  into  an  affection  for 
each  other  that  has  been  a  great  pleasure  to  both  of  us, 
and  I  wish  to  thank  him  for  his  eloquent,  graceful  and 
beautiful  tribute  to  me  tonight. 

I  wish  again  with  all  my  heart  to  thank  the  Satur- 
day Noon  Club  and  the  guests  for  the  great  pleasure  and 
honor  they  have  given  me  this  evening. 


